Disclaimer : I own nothing.
Note : Well, we're getting on in the story. Have I started to bore any of you yet? I really hope not. I bet you all know just what Tori got in the previous chapter, huh? I tried to make it a surprise, but I know I could've done better. If you figured it out, great! If not, you'll find out soon.
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(Blake's POV)
When Tori came out from the small pond, I was shocked to find that she'd been crying. I saw the suspicious glare Shane sent me, and the sympathetic look Hunter shot me, but chose to ignore them as I focused on her.
Seeing her red eyes, it made me realize that her decision to marry Lothor, wasn't just hurting me and the rest of our friends, but her too. Maybe it was even hurting her more than me.
That thought brought a pang of guilt to me, making me realize I'd been less than kind to her since I found out. I was being rash and hurting her, just because I was hurting. I was so terrified of losing her, I was pushing her away with my words and actions, lashing out at her for no reason.
It also brought her words to mind.
I have to do this.
It made me wonder just why she had to do it. What was so bad, she'd go through all this just to...what? What was she planning? Why couldn't she tell us?
Lost in my thoughts, I failed to notice when we stepped out of the forest and into an icy land with biting cold winds. Shivering, I looked up and noticed a small travel agency in front of us. I noticed that no one else even paid it mind as they passed by it. Soon, we came to an icy path, and stopped when we noticed Tromell was waiting for us.
Seeing us, he ran over with a big smile and bowed to Tori, who subtly hid her one arm slightly behind her back. "Lady Tori. We've been expecting you. We were surprised you decided to come so soon." he gushed with a huge smile.
Frowning, I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at the man and shivering in the cold winds. I'll bet you were surprised. I thought sarcastically. If you asked me, this all seemed too convenient to me. Something was definitely up, and I smelled a rat.
"Pleasantly surprised of course. Lord Lothor sends his apologies for having left without notice." he continued on, seemingly oblivious to the glare he was getting, of the way Tori shifted uncomfortably.
Nodding, Tori seemed to sigh silently. "It's quite all right. I have one question, if I may." she said evenly, keeping her voice steady and sweet.
"My Lady?"
"I want to keep journeying, even if I marry. Do you think that Maester Lothor would let me?"
He nodded vigorously. "But of course, my Lady. Lord Lothor wishes for nothing else, I'm sure." he insisted pleasantly.
Turning back to us, Tori's eyes were filled with tears, but with a deep breath, she stood up straight and nodded. "Goodbye." she said, sadness ringing loudly in her forlorn voice.
"Well...we must follow Guado traditions. I'll have to ask you to wait here a little while longer. I'll send someone to escort you." Tromell put in with a hasty bow.
Why didn't I like the sound of his voice? This suddenly seemed to go from a bad dream to a horrible nightmare, and I felt helpless to save the woman I loved from certain doom. I shivered again, but this time, it wasn't from the cold. I had a really bad feeling something was going to happen.
As Tromell walked off, Tori opened her mouth and sighed. "I..."
Cam nodded his head. "We're all with you. Do as you will."
"Thank you." With that final goodbye, Tori walked off, joining Tromell on another section of the ice, a large field of it below us.
Turning to me, Cam bowed his head and gave me a look that clearly said I'd missed something. "Sorry. That was your line." he stated, hinting that I was supposed to say something before she left.
Overcome with the feeling that I had to talk to her, or do something, I ran to the edge of the path, seeing her crossing the ice, and called to her. "Tori!" When she turned my way, I placed my fingers in my mouth and let out a shrill whistle, slightly relieved when she gave me a bright smile and nodded.
"Yessir!" she called back before continuing on.
All of a sudden, I found Dustin by my side, looking down over the frozen lake with a frown and wide eyes. Looking in the same direction, I felt my heart skip a beat when I saw a small group of Al Bhed, and a giant machina come rushing towards Tori.
"Oh, no!" Dustin cried.
Shane came running up to stand beside us and glared at the men. "Al Bhed!' he yelled angrily.
Gathering ourselves together, we ran down to to the frozen lake and formed a half circle in front of Tori and Tromell, guarding them from the Al Bhed and their wayward machina.
Tromell bowed when he saw us, giving a relieved sigh. "Thank you." he said gratefully.
Tori nodded and grabbed her staff, rushing away from his side and joining us as the Al Bhed grew closer.
"Lad Tori!" Tromell protested, before sighing once he saw that she wouldn't be swayed.
The leader of the group of Al Bhed, a man woth a blonde mowhawk and goggles, stepped forward to sneer at the group, before his eyes settled on Dustin. "Dustin! Tuh'd ehdanvana un oui kad drec! Ouin bnaleuic yht Aeons yna caymat! (Dustin! Don't interefere, or you get this! Your precious magic and Aeons are sealed!)" he cried, pointing to the large machina that started bouncing jerkily, up and down, as sparks flew from random joints and it buzzed to life.
"Oh, no." Dustin repeated his earlier phraze.
I noticed the others looking at him in confusion, remembering that Shane didn't know what he was, and that the others, like me, didn't understand the language. All I'd been able to pick up was, Dustin's name and the word 'Aeons'. Turning to Dustin, I raised an eyebrow. "Translation?"
Turning to me, he gulped nervously, and shook his head. "He's gonna use an anti-magic field on us!"
THAT...didn't sound good! That meant that if we had to fight this thing, we'd have to use hand to hand combat and items. It's a good thing Dustin stole a few good things, because from the looks on their faces, we were going to have to fight.
"Kad dras! (Get them!)" he yelled, and the machina rolled forward, buzzing and jerking as it came to a stop in front of us. Seeing that it would keep us busy, and seeming no possible way to escape it, they left us there to fight it.
Grabbing my blade, I was tempted to morph, but with Tromell there, a servant in direct service to Lothor, I didn't want him to know that I could. It was an advantage, I wanted to keep secret.
Hunter raised his hands quickly, casting Thundaga on the machina, as Shane hit it with his blitzball. It fell back a step before jerkily moving back to it's original position.
I ran forward at the same time as Cam and together we attacked it with our weapons. I spun around, hitting it twice, before jumping into the air, using the machina to kick myself off to get more height, and impaled it with my blade, before flipping off it, hitting it once again. Running back to my spot, I noticed Cam shooting me an impressed look but ignored it as I jumped out of the way.
Tori took the open chance to use her magic and cast protact on us all one by one, as Dustin threw a grenade at it.
It was just in time too, because a moment later, and a small object shot out of the machina, flying in the air over it.
"That's a negator!" Dustin called. "Our magic's useless!"
"Then attack it with everything you've got!" Cam shouted to me. Dustin turned his back to the thing as he crouched down and mixed together a grenade and a lightning gem, like he did outside of Guadosalam, but this time, he added a second lightning gem to the mix.
As he prepared that, I ran forward, slicing the machina with my blade and kicking myself away from it, just as it swung a metallic leg out to hit me.
Cam nodded to Dustin as I jumped out of the way, and he stood up, spinning around and throwing the new item at the machina, hitting it dead on. Explosions of lightning ran over the thing, and bolts shot out of the sky, and blew pieces off of it. The attack also hit the negator, and destroyed it, freeing our magic once again.
"Hunt, you're up!" Shane called as he hit it with his blitzball.
Nodding, Hunter ran forward and cast a thundaga spell on it, bringing it down and we watched as it glowed a vibrant red before it collaped to the ground and stopped moving.
Tromell came running up to Tori. "My Lady!"
Nodding, she turned and bowed slightly to us, before walking off with him. I felt my heart constrict and wished she wouldn't go. I wanted to stop her...to tell her how I felt, but before I could even think on it...We were interrupted.
The leader of the Al Bhed group came back to the nearby ridge and glared at us all, moslty Dustin. "Dustin! E femm damm vydran! (Dustin! I will tell father!)" he shouted.
Glaring right back, Dustin walked forward and shook his head. "E ys dra Guardian uv Tori, oui caa? Tori ec cyva! Fa femm kiynt ran! Cra ec cyva! (I am the Guardian of Tori, you see? Tori is safe! We will guard her! She is safe!)" he shouted back.
Wincing a bit, I knew the others had heard that and worried about Shane's reaction. There was no way he could possibly ignore that, which meant, I'd probably have to listen to him complain about being lied to, that Dustin was an Al Bhed, and that we all knew about it.
"Oui tu drec ymuha, pnudran! (You do this alone, brother!)" he hissed as he turned and ran away.
Sighing, Dustin looked down as Shane and the others came over. "I told him I was a Guardian. Well, I guess I had to, really." he sighed again, looking really hurt. Frowning, I wondered what that guy had said to him to hurt him so deeply.
Shane crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Dustin cluelessly. "How come you speak Al Bhed?"
Looking over at him, Dustin raised an eyebrow. "Because I'm Al Bhed." he said simply with a shrug. "And that...was my brother."
I winced again, suddenly understanding all too well the pain Dustin was probably feeling. The look in that man's eyes was one of such anger, and sadly, I recognized it from the time Hunter had been brainwashed into believing I was a traitor. That I betrayed him. I saw the same anger and hurt in his eyes that time, and the words he spat, though he didn't mean them, hurt me deeply.
So yes, I honestly understood perfectly, just how bad Dustin was hurting, even if he tried to hide it behind a mask.
Shane looked at all of us, and none of us bothered to deny it, or hide that we knew. The hurt and confsed look on his face made me cringe slightly, but otherwise, we all remained impassive. "You knew?" he asked, his voice ringing with such hurt. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"We knew you'd be upset." Hunter answered with a sad smile.
He chuckled dryly and glared at Dustin. "That's great." he said sarcastically. "I can't believe I've been travelling with an Al Bhed. A heathen!" he spat angrily.
Glaring right back, Dustin got up into his face. "That's not true!" he spat back. "You're wrong! We have nothing against Yevon!!"
Spluttering for a moment, he looked taken back by that, but got over it quickly. "But you Al Bhed use forbidden machina! You know what that means? Sin was born because of people using machina!"
Raising his eyebrow, Dustin took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest. "You got proof? Show me proof!" he demanded as he continued to stare the man down.
"It's in Yevon's teachings!" he shouted. "Not that you'd know anything about that!" he finished in a disgusted hiss.
Shaking his head, Dustin gave a snort. "That's not good enough! Yevon says this, Yevon says that! Can't you think for yourself?"
I began thinking about what was being said. Everything Shane said made sense, but so did what Dustin said. There was no proof that machia was the cause of Sin's birth. It's all legends, rumors and heresay. Everyone said that Al Bhed were different, heathens, but were they really? Dustin just admitted to having nothing against Yevon. His beliefs were different, but was it really bad enough that he should be considered an enemy?
Then, I began to wonder why the Al Bhed kept attacking us. First kidnapping Tori in Luca, then trying to kidnap her at the Moonflow, then here in Macalania. What's next?
"Well then, you tell me! Where does Sin come from?" Shane demanded shaking his head and still glaring at the Al Bhed across from him.
Hunter sighed and put a hand to his head as he shook it. Looking to Cam, he noticed the smirk on his face and raised an eyebrow before turning back to the feud.
"I...I don't know." Dustin quietly admitted, looking down.
Pointing at him, Shane laughed triumphantly. "Hah! You bad-mouth Yevon and that's all you can come up with?"
"But...that doesn't mean you should do whatever they say without thinking! Nothing will ever change that way!"
He had a point. Here, I was sent to try thinking outside the box. To find a different way to beat Sin, but if Shane wouldn't cooperate, how could I? I was sent here to help change things. Then, it hit me. What I was told before by the Fayth, I was going to be sent some help. Looking to a defiant Dustin who seemed to refuse to give up his beliefs, I wondered, was he the one to help me? Was he the one sent to help me find a way to kill Sin forever?
Nothing has to change." Shane said sternly.
Shaking his head, Dustin kept on glaring. "You want Sin to keep coming back? There might be a way to stop it, you know!"
"Sin will be gone once we atone for our past mistakes."
Sighing, Dustin pointed at Shane and walked up to him. "When?" he demaned, looking for an answer. "How?" Groaning in frustration, he threw his hands up, before turning his back on Shane. "Why do I even bother?"
"Dustin!" Cam called.
Everyone turned to find him looking at one of two fallen snowmobiles. I was surprised to find out how much like earth snowmobiles they looked, but hid it as the elder Guardian turned to the curious Al Bhed.
"Will this move?"
Dustin ran over and knelt beside it to check it out, as Shane turned to Cam in shock. "We're not going to use that, are we? Wait...Sir Cam isn't Al Bhed too, is he?"
Part of me want to laugh at that comment. From what I'd learned, Al Bhed were mostly blondes, with Dustin as the exception, and had swirled green eyes. And what's more, they loved the desert and machinas. Cam didn't seem at all like that!
Deciding to change the subject, I turned to Shane. "Come on Shane..."
He glared at me. "What?"
"I mean, getting angry just 'cause you found out Dustin's an Al Bhed...You guys got along just fineuntil now, didn't you?"
"Well that's different..." he trailed off as he hesitated.
"Well, I don't claim to know much about Spira...and I probably know even less about the Al Bhed, but...I know Dustin's a good person. He's just Dustin!"
"Was he one of your friends as well?" Hunter asked softly.
I nodded. "Yeah." Laughing a bit, I shook my head. "The airhead of the group, but still a really good person."
"Hunt?" Shane seemed to be trying to find someone on his side in this.
Raising an eyebrow, he shook his head. "Just think of this as an opportunity to learn more about the Al Bhed."
Groaning in frustration, Shane turned and stalked off. Cam turned to us before we could even blink and slowly shook his head. "Leave him alone. He needs time to think."
"I'm sorry." Dustin sighed, looking down.
Hunter walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "You've done nothing to apologize for." he said firmly.
"All right." I said, looking at the righted snowmobiles. "Let's ride!" As much as I was in a hurry to get to the temple to see Tori, I was also scared of what might meet me, but I was also determined to stand by her.
It was a little akward, seeing as how there were only two snowmobiles and four guys. I guess, even though I kind of felt bad for Shane, it was a good thing he decided to walk. There'd be no way we could fit all five of us onto two snowmobiles.
Well, at least I got the least akward partner. Hunter. As he sat behind me, he held on tight as I started the machina, surprised at how easy it was to drive.
"I hope you're not too mad at Shane." he said from behind me.
"Not at all." I called back. Actually, I kind of understood. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Hunter nod, and decided to ask a question that had been bugging me. "What do you think of Dustin?"
He looked surprised to hear my question, but seemed to think about it. "Me? He's fun to travel with. I...can tell he's a good person." He almost seemed unsure of how to answer my question, as if looking for the right answer, though to me, there really wasn't one. He finally sighed and seemed to give up. "You should know, Shane hates the Al Bhed because his brother went off to fight Sin one day, using an Al Bhed machina weapon that had no effect on it."
"Speaking of Sin...What the hell is it?"
He frowned and shook his head. "No one really knows what Sin is. There's no need to know, so no one asks. You run or you fight. That is really all you can do. There's no sense in brooding over it."
Raising an eyebrow, I grinned. This? From the king of brooding? Shaking my head, I kept with the topic of the discussion. "That's all? I mean, you don't even wonder?"
There was a long pause and I looked over my shoulder to find Hunter looking at me closely, as if really seeing me for the first time. "You really do come from a world where there is no Sin, like you say."
We made it halfway to the temple when Cam caught my eyes and gestured for us to pull over. Doing so, he seemed to sigh, and Dustin jumped off the back of the snowmobile, racing over to us and pulling Hunter up. "We're switching!" he said cheerily as he pushed the black mage lightly towards Cam's nomobile and sat down in his place, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist and making me grimace as I tried to hold my body away from his.
Giving me a helpless and sympathetic look, Hunter shrugged slightly and hopped onto the back of Cam's, and we were off again.
"Listen." I called over my shoulder. "Sorry about Shane."
Dustin pouted. "He didn't have to be so mean, yeah? I almost cried!"
Raising my eyebrow, I pulled myself a little farther away from him. "Uh...Dustin?" Please don't start crying on me, man. I mentally pleaded.
He laughed from behind me and moved his arm to swat me lightly before replacing it. "Just kidding!" he chirped. "Hey, do I look at all like Tori?"
My snowmobile swerved slightly as my whole body jumped in shock from that question. I felt my eyes widen and my jaw drop. Thinking about it, I shook my head. Actually, Tori was blonde with blue eyes and a pale complexion, and Dustin was brunette with green eyes and a tanned complexion. So...no...they didn't look alike to me.
He continued on like nothing had happened behind me. "Well my dad's sister was Tori's mom. You get it?"
Blinking for a moment, my mind came up blank before it all came crashing down on me. Dustin was Tori's COUSIN? Trying to act cheerful, I watched the road ahead of me as my grip tightened on the handle bars of the machina. "I had no idea! If you say so. Okay! Then you're guarding family then, right?"
"Tori's not the only one I want to protect. We Al Bhed want to protect all of the Summoners, you know?" he said softly, a deep sadness hidden in his voice. "Summoners are...well, you could say that..."
Before he could finish his sentence, we made it to the temple and parked the machina snomobiles out of sight before grouping up and walking to the entrance of the temple. Turning to Dustin, I gave him a small shrug. "We'll talk about this later." I said, and he hesitated before nodding as he looked at the ground.
We met Shane at the temple, and though he looked somewhat calmer, he made it his mission to avoid and ignore Dustin no matter what.
As we approached the door to enter the temple, the guard stepped in our way and glowered threateningly at Dustin. "Halt! The likes of him are not welcome in this hallowed place." he spat.
Cam shook his head. "He is a Guardian."
The guard laughed. "An Al Bhed, a Guardian? Preposterous!"
"I've decided to become Tori's Guardian now, and that's all I want." Dustin said in a subdued voice.
"And that's all one needs to be a Guardian." Cam finished for him.
After a moment of thinking, the guard nodded hesitantly and allowed them in. "Very well. You may enter."
Looking up to the huge frozen temple as we entered, I took a deep breath. Hang on Tor. We're here for you. I silently vowed.
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Wow...longest fic yet. I really hope you like it.
So...what's Tori up to? Why did she decide to marry Lothor after all? You'll find out soon.
R+R please.
Thank you for sticking with me.
Tenshi